Reflection- Storytelling
By Wong Chan Wai (Jowy). After some reflections reflections and review about my storytelling storytelling session today, I realized one of my strengths was that I could adapt to the situation and make immediate changes. According to (Schön, 1983), “If “If something isn’t working correctly, then you “reflect” in the action -present and find a viable solution. ” During my storytelling session, I realized the time allocated was not enough so I had to shorten my story and redirect to the main gist of the plot. According to Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, “Spatial Intelligence is an area in the theory of multiple intelligences that deals with spatial judgment and the ability to visualize visualize with the mind's eye” . In order to allow my pupils to visualize my story, I have included flash picture cards as my props. This became one of my strengths because I could arouse pupils’ interest at the very beginning of the session. I also could relate my story to the object easily by pointing it on the illustrated pictures. According According to (Hanson, 1991) “ pictures, paintings, and other visuals constitute the most effective, most plentiful, and least expensive teaching medium. Used appropriately and sequentially, pictures can not only illustrate a topic but also can provide the experience base children require in order to profit from reading and writing and from numerous other learning experiences.” experiences. ” Thus, I regarded using pictures as a merit to pupils’ better understanding of the story. Besides, another strength I possessed from the storytelling session was that I practiced two-way communication in my storytelling session. According to (Wright, 1995), Storytelling is interactive as it involves a two-way interaction between a storyteller and one or more listeners. The responses of the listeners influence the telling of the story. In fact, storytelling emerges from the interaction and cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience. During my storytelling session, I tried to maintain a two way communication with my pupils by asking questions. Their responses towards the questions have proved their level of
understanding. One student even started making sounds when I mentioned about the phrase “grasshopper was playing with his musical instrument.” Therefore, a two way interaction is vital to ensure that pupils’ understanding towards the story. After a bit of reflection, I realized one of my weaknesses was in classroom management. According to (Hammond, 2011), “nonverbal communication is an important way to achieve attention and focus in your classroom.” I realized I did not use any non verbal cues as my classroom instructions. As a result, I panicked when my pupils started to misbehave. I should establish eye contact with my pupils and focus on pupils who appear fatigued for eye contact can raise their attention and focus on my story. Besides, I could use other nonverbal cues such as remaining quiet and stare and the pupils who misbehave in future. (Hammond, 1990) also stated that nonverbal commands can help you get control of a disruptive student and ensure peace in your classroom. On the other hand, I also found out that the language level of my story was a bit difficult for my pupils. Although the content of my story was appropriate and interesting, some of the vocabulary was above the level of my pupils. Therefore, I should obtain a clear awareness of pupils’ language level at the first place. I should also analyze the text carefully and simplify the text with simple words if necessary. Few criteria I have to reconsider are the verbs, tenses and nouns. (Radhika O’Sullivan, 1991) stated that “the advantages of teaching literature depends primarily on the works selected. If the selection is too easy, students will feel bored; if it is too difficult, students will feel frustrated and you will be overwhelmed.” Therefore, reflecting upon my story, I came to the realization the importance of the selection of stories which has to be put into serious consideration. There are a lot of rooms for improvement for my storytelling session. I personally think that I should include sequencing activity in my storytelling onwards. Sequencing activity can go from listening to the story to singing and dancing to drawing. As teachers, it is essential that we maximize our students’
language learning potentials. According to (Eoin, 2010), one needs to think creatively and find connections between different concepts. In this case, a teacher needs to vary this teaching method, yet achieving connections with the curriculum specifications. A teacher has to realize that each learner has different learning style, based on the theory of individual differences. Above all, with sequencing activity, pupils will not feel bored throughout the session. In addition, I should make my storytelling more interesting by inserting rhymed and repetitive phrases. According to (George, 2012), learning these verses and rhymes helps in the development and overall understanding of vocabulary. Using rhymes, I can improve on my pitch, tone and intonation. Whilst in the aspect of cognitive development, these rhymes are patterns, they help children learn easy recall and memorization (Monro, 2003). Children also develop their mouth and tongue muscles by using the different sounds in the rhyme. I can also enhance my interactions with my pupils by asking them to repeat the rhymes after me. According to (Papaconstantiou, 1991), harmony in the classroom helps relieve tension and keeps the door to language open. By fun and interesting activity instead of monotonous activity such as reading aloud words from the text, teachers get to reduce the affective filters within the students. To conclude, this experience impacted a lot on me. I realized that it was not simple to handle pupils. One needs to have great patience and empathy. Besides, I am seeing how important it is to “try and error”, we never know once we make mistakes. And from the fall of mistakes, we learn to get back up, mend on and repair ourselves so we can do it better again. Last but not least, I would really like to have more chances to involve practically with pupils because I know, experience makes you a master. (1006 words)
